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{
    "id": 390482,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/390482/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 247,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Sen. Kagwe",
    "speaker_title": "",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 229,
        "legal_name": "Mutahi Kagwe",
        "slug": "mutahi-kagwe"
    },
    "content": "Thank you very much, Madam Temporary Speaker, for giving me this opportunity to contribute to this very important Motion. Madam Temporary Speaker, while I support the Motion, my conscience tears me apart when we talk about political parties. I ask myself: Do we really have political parties in Kenya? If you look at the Oxford Dictionary and go to the definition of a political party, you will find that what is popularly known as a political party here is not what is in the dictionary or any other definition remotely related to “political party” as a definition. Madam Temporary Speaker, political parties are organizations that will typically seek to influence governance of a nation or actively control government policy. When you think about it and go back to the history of Kenya’s political parties, you ask yourself at what point we heard of a debate that related to the difference in political ideology of these political parties. For example, we know that President Barrack Obama has been trying to move the medicare Bill in the United States of America and one of the issues has been: Is this ideologically an issue of the Government, as far as the Democratic Party is concerned, or individuals, as far as the Republic Party is concerned? Madam Temporary Speaker, when you come to Kenya and talk about political parties disagreeing on different things, rarely if ever, do we hear of a position that has been taken by a party from a point of ideology and say: Our ideology as a party is to do the following. For example, for a while, I served as Secretary General of the Social Democratic Party and learnt a lot of things about political parties. The Social Democratic Party has got extremely attractive philosophies and ideologies, and I believe in social democracy as an individual. The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}